Buzz Braman Is Dr. Sure Shot

There's a superb videotape, available at yard sales, at some summer basketball camps and on the World Wide Web ($33), called Buzz Braman Is Doctor Sure Shot. On the back of the cassette box, the good doctor is described as "The Man Who Shot 738 Free Throws in a Row!" Anyone who has worked with Braman, a 42-year-old from Columbia, Md., will testify that he is an excellent shooter, that he explains things simply, that he works with a player's natural tendencies. There are other shot doctors around, but none is as prominent.

Braman has worked with the 76ers, the Magic and the Bullets. He continues to work privately with a half dozen NBA players on all aspects of their shooting, including free throws. He has tutored Hersey Hawkins, Shaquille O'Neal, Chris Webber. He says Armon Gilliam and Juwan Howard improved under his guidance.

There's no way to conclusively gauge Dr. Sure Shot's effectiveness. When he was employed by teams, no one knew how many players were actually working with him, how much they were listening to him, how much time they were putting in. "The problem with Buzz and the other [shot doctors] out there is that they don't get to the root problem," says one NBA assistant coach. "They're talking about technique, but the real issue is self-esteem or anxiety or something in the head. They can help you in practice, but how do you carry that over to the game?"

That, Braman says, is ridiculous. The shooter's troubles may become mental, he says, but they start out as shortcomings in technique. "Look at Shaq, Karl Malone, a lot of guys, they back up on their second free throw, like they're trying a fadeaway jumper," Braman says. "That's a technique problem. Most guys in the NBA are not willing to put in the time to get the muscle memory needed to make free throws."

When Braman watches NBA games, he sees player after player go to the line with well-practiced bad form. It makes him cringe. When he wants to see good free throw technique, he says, he watches kids in his camps.